Cast

Musikalische Leitung

Josep Caballé-Domenech

Conductor

Josep Caballé-Domenech

Designated Music Director of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogota (from 2018), General Music Director of the Opera and Staatskapelle Halle-Saale (Germany), and now in his seventh season as Music Director of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic (USA), Josep Caballé Domenech enjoys combining his conducting career with a great symphonic and operatic repertoire.

Caballé Domenech has worked with an impressive list of orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic London, with whom he recorded “Respighi’s Roman Trilogy” for Onyx Classics, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, WDR Cologne, Swedish Radio, Czech Philharmonic, Munich Radio Orchestra, RSO Wien, New Japan Philharmonic, Baltimore, Houston and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras, among others. Additionally, he usually conducts summer festivals like Aspen Music Festival, Texas Music Festival in the USA, Londrina Festival in Brasil and Moritzburg Festival in Germany.

Recognized also for his work with operatic repertoire, Caballé-Domenech made his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and lead the company also in guest productions at the Savonlinna Festival and La Fenice Venice. Caballé Domenech has conducted new productions at the Dresden Semperoper, Theater an der Wien (with P. Domingo), Vienna’s Volksoper, Essen Aalto Theater, Capitol du Toulouse, Theatre Royal du Versailles/Paris, ABAO in Bilbao and has conducted at the Staatsoper Berlin, Hamburg Staatsoper and State Opera Stuttgart. Recent highlights include Wagner’s Ring in Halle, Strauss’ Salome at the teatro Mayor in Bogotá, Puccini’s Fanciulla del West at the Staatsoper Hamburg, two South American Tours with the Staatskapelle Halle and a concert with Yo Yo Ma that marked the 90th Anniversary Gala of the Colorado Springs Phiharmonic Orchestra.

Caballé-Domenech’s 2017/18 Season includes Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana at The Hamburg Staatsoper, Der Fliehende Holländer, Aida, Tosca, Adrianna Lecovreur and Sweeney Todd in Halle, Rosenkavalier in Bogota, and concerts with Dresden Festspielorchester at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Nürenberg Philharmonic, Spanish National Symphony Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Navarra Symphony Orchestra and the debut at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.

Born in Barcelona into a family of musicians, Josep Caballé-Domenech studied piano, percussion, singing and violin. He took conducting lessons with David Zinman, Jorma Panula, Sergiu Comissiona and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Caballé Domenech was awarded the Aspen Prize from the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen and selected as “Protégé” in the inaugural cycle of the Sir Colin Davis Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative 2002-03.

Elena Zhidkova

Mezzosoprano Elena Zhidkova made her debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Career highlights include appearances at the Bayreuth Festival, concertante “Parsifal” with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic, Mezzo soprano Elena Zhidkova made her professional debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She appeared at the Bayreuth Festival. Claudio Abbado invited her for the concert version of Parsifal, for Schumann’s “Faustszenen” and for his farewell concert at the Berlin Philharmonic where she appeared again in Händel’s “Jephta” under the baton of Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

At the Teatro Real in Madrid she debuted as Waltraute (Götterdämmerung) and as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde. A highly sought after guest performer in Tokyo as well she could be heard at the New National Theatre Tokyo among others as Octavian (Rosenkavalier), Fricka (Ring des Nibelungen) and Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde). She debuted very successfully as Judith in Bartok’s “Duke Bluebeard’s Castle” at the Teatro alla Scala, a role she has also created at the Barbican Hall London with the London Symphony Orchestra under Valéry Gergiev (published on CD).

Her interpretation of Judith (Herzog Blaubarts Burg) at the Mariinsky Theatre gained her the „Golden Mask“ award as best singing actress in Russia. She was invited to sing the same part under Seiji Ozawas at the Saito Kinen Festival (also published on CD). Her appearance as Fricka (Ring des Nibelungen) could be witnessed at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and in the new production of the tetralogy at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

She could be seen as Venus in “Tannhäuser” at the Semperoper Dresden and sang Marie (Wozzeck) with the BBC Orchestra under Donald Runnicles. As Kundry (Parsifal) she appeared in Lyon, Mannheim and Düsseldorf. Successful performances include furthermore La Principessa di Bouillon (Adriana Lecouvreur), The Foreign Princess (Rusalka) and Eboli (Don Carlo) at the Wiener Staatsoper, Charlotte (Werther) under Michel Plasson, as well as her debut as Ortrud (Lohengrin).

She enjoyed great success as Didon in Berlioz’ ”Les Troyens” at the Hamburgische Staatsoper and Santuzza at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Opéra Bastille Paris.

Performances

Teodor Ilincai

Since his professional debut in 2006 with the Bucharest National Opera, Romanian tenor Teodor Ilincai has performed at many of the important opera houses in the world, including the Royal Opera House – Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna State Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, Bavarian State Opera, Opera di Genova, Opéra Municipal de Marseille, Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse and Semperoper Dresden. In the 2017/18 season, he will sing Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana at the Hamburg State Opera and for his debut at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels.

In the 2016/17 season, Ilincai made his house debut with Opera Australia as Cavaradossi in Tosca and his role debut as Don Carlos at the Opéra Municipal de Marseille. He also returned to the Berlin State Opera as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and Cavardossi, opposite Angela Gheorghiu, to the Gran Teatre del Liceu as Macduff in Macbeth, to Covent Garden as Pinkerton, and to the Deutsche Oper Berlin as the title role in Don Carlos.

In 2008, Ilincai was invited by the Banatul Philharmonic in Timisoara to perform in Rossini’s Stabat Mater, making his debut in a vocal-symphonic work. That same year, he performed for the first time on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest in Antonin Dvorak’s Requiem. Ilincai’s international debut took place in January of 2009 on the stage of the Hamburg State Opera as MacDuff in Verdi’s Macbeth. In March, he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera as Ismaele in Verdi’s Nabucco and at the opera houses of Timisoara, Bucharest and Hannover as Rodolfo in La Boheme. In December, he made his debut at the Royal Opera House in London as Rodolfo under the stage direction of John Copley.

Teodor Ilincai studied musical pedagogy and byzantine music at the Bucharest Music Conservatory, from which he graduated in 2006. He then became a principal singer with the Bucharest National Opera, where he sang his first major role: Ionic in Cornel Trailescu’s Puss in Boots.

Performances

George Gagnidze

“The Georgian baritone George Gagnidze was an exceptionally menacing Scarpia, singing with robust, earthy power and seductive lyricism when the villain turns on the charm”. With these words he New York Times hailed George Gagnidze in a 2008 performance of Tosca at Avery Fisher Hall at the New York Lincoln Center. One year later he made his sensational debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Rigoletto, and has since then ranked among the leading singers of his genre.

Regularly invited by the most prestigious international opera companies, performances of the 2017/18 season include Tonio in “Pagliacci” and Scarpia in a new production of “Tosca” at the Metropolitan Opera, Alfio in “Cavalleria rusticana” and Tonio in “Pagliacci” at the Hamburg State Opera, Amonasro in “Aida” at the Teatro Real of Madrid and his role debut as Barnaba in “La Gioconda” at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Career highlights include the title roles in “Rigoletto” and “Macbeth”; “Tosca” (Scarpia), “Aida” (Amonasro), “Pagliacci” (Tonio), “Cavalleria rusticana” (Alfio) and “Hovanscina” at the Metropolitan Opera, “Nabucco” (title role) and “Tosca” at the Vienna State Opera, “Rigoletto”, “La Traviata” (Germont) and “Aida” at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, “Tosca”, “Aida” and “Francesca da Rimini” at Opéra National of Paris, “Simon Boccanegra” (title role) at the Teatro Real di Madrid, “Andrea Chénier” (Carlo Gérard) and “Aida” at the San Francisco Opera, “Falstaff” (title role) at the New National Theatre of Tokyo, “Rigoletto” at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence, “Cavalleria rusticana” and “Pagliacci” at Gran Teatro del Liceu of Barcelona, “La Traviata” at the Arena of Verona, and “Otello” (Iago) at The Greek National Opera of Athens.

Born in Tbilisi and trained at the State Conservatory of his home town, George Gagnidze debuted as Renato in “Un ballo in maschera” in 1996 at the Paliashvili State Opera. He entered the “Concorso Voci Verdiane” in 2005 as an award-winner of the “Leyla Gencer Voice Competition” and the “Elena Obraztsova Competition”. The jury, chaired by José Carreras and Katia Ricciarelli, awarded him first prize for his outstanding vocal interpretation. After launching his international career from Germany, he was soon engaged by many of the world's important opera houses.

Performances

Dorottya Láng

The “excellent” (Kurier) young Hungarian mezzo-soprano Dorottya Láng has earned international acclaim for her “ravishing” (Musik Heute) and “impeccable” talent. John Allison writes in The Telegraph that “she quickly showed herself to be a singer of great musical poise. …with rich and even tone rising to a pure top.”

Born in Budapest in 1986, Ms Láng studied at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien (Vienna’s University of Music and the Performing Arts) with Claudia Visca. Her awards and honours include Prize Winner of the 2012 Emmerich Smola Competition, Third Prize at the 2011 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation Song Competition and Prize Winner at the 2013 Mozart Academie competition in Aix-en-Provence.

Highlights of her 2016/17 season included Angelina in Renaud Doucet’s "La Cenerentola" and Hermia in Simon Phillips "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" at Hamburgische Staatsoper; Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in the new Elbphilharmonie under Kent Nagano; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in her Tonkünstler debut; a Schubertiade recital debut with Helmut Deutsch; and a further recital with Mr Deutsch at Budapest’s Palace of the Arts.

Renate Spingler

Renate Spingler began her musical studies at the State Conservatory for Music in Munich. She finished her vocal training under the guidance of world acclaimed soprano Professor Reri Grist. Immediately after her studies, she received an engagement as soloist at the Hamburg State Opera, to whose venerable ensemble she still belongs. In the scope of her duties at this opera house, she works with many internationally renowned conductors and directors.

The recordings of this mezzo soprano include the soundtrack of “The Magic of
Venus“, starring Glenn Close, in which she sang the role of the Shepherd
(Tannhäuser), and another “Tannhäuser“ production with the Hamburg State
Opera produced and aired by a Japanese television company.

As an active performer of contemporary music, Renate Spingler also participated in recording productions led by Gerd Albrecht with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, which have included ”Hagadah“ by Paul Dessau and the world premiere of „Freispruch für Medea“ by Rolf Liebermann. Under the direction of Ingo Metzmacher and the Hamburg State Opera, she sang the role of Margret in a live EMI recording of Berg’s “Wozzeck“. Recently, two further recordings with the Philharmoniker Hamburg led by Simone Young have been released by Oehms Classics: In the “Walküre“ by Richard Wagner, Renate Spingler sang the role of Rossweiße; in the live recording of the highly acclaimed premiere of Hindemith’s “Mathis der Maler“, she sang the role of Gräfin Helfenstein / Üppigkeit.

Other solo performances include concerts and recitals throughout Europe and North
America in cities such as Munich, Hamburg, Bratislava, Monte Carlo, Luxembourg, Prague and New York. Furthermore, Renate Spingler worked as a Guest Professor for Singing at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock from March 2005 to March 2006. In June 2008, she sang the role of Sigrune in two concert performances of the opera Walküre at the Gran Teatre del Liceu together with Placido Domingo and Waltraud Meier under the direction of Sebastian Weigle.

On December 9, 2017, the Hamburg Senate honored Renate Spingler with the title of “Kammersängerin” for her special merits in the field of music.

Performances

Hayoung Lee

The Korean Soprano Hayoung Lee was born in Seoul and absolved her vocal studies at Yon-Sei University and at the Korean National University of Arts.

Before her debut in Europe she had engagements at the Seoul Arts Centre, the Peking Opera and with the Tokyo National Theater.

In 2001/02 she attended the National Opera Studio in London. This was followed by her participation in the Vilar Young Artist Programme at the Covent Garden Royal Opera House where she sang Violetta (La Traviata), Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute), Clorinda (La Centerola), Ophelie (Hamlet), Sophie (Werther) and Woglinde (Das Rheingold).

In 2005 Hayoung Lee received the Audience Prize at the “BBC Cardiff Singer of the World” competition. In the same year she sang in Fauré’s “Requiem” in a benefit concert for the tsunami victims that was broadcast by the BBC.

Performances

George Gagnidze

“The Georgian baritone George Gagnidze was an exceptionally menacing Scarpia, singing with robust, earthy power and seductive lyricism when the villain turns on the charm”. With these words he New York Times hailed George Gagnidze in a 2008 performance of Tosca at Avery Fisher Hall at the New York Lincoln Center. One year later he made his sensational debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Rigoletto, and has since then ranked among the leading singers of his genre.

Regularly invited by the most prestigious international opera companies, performances of the 2017/18 season include Tonio in “Pagliacci” and Scarpia in a new production of “Tosca” at the Metropolitan Opera, Alfio in “Cavalleria rusticana” and Tonio in “Pagliacci” at the Hamburg State Opera, Amonasro in “Aida” at the Teatro Real of Madrid and his role debut as Barnaba in “La Gioconda” at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Career highlights include the title roles in “Rigoletto” and “Macbeth”; “Tosca” (Scarpia), “Aida” (Amonasro), “Pagliacci” (Tonio), “Cavalleria rusticana” (Alfio) and “Hovanscina” at the Metropolitan Opera, “Nabucco” (title role) and “Tosca” at the Vienna State Opera, “Rigoletto”, “La Traviata” (Germont) and “Aida” at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, “Tosca”, “Aida” and “Francesca da Rimini” at Opéra National of Paris, “Simon Boccanegra” (title role) at the Teatro Real di Madrid, “Andrea Chénier” (Carlo Gérard) and “Aida” at the San Francisco Opera, “Falstaff” (title role) at the New National Theatre of Tokyo, “Rigoletto” at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence, “Cavalleria rusticana” and “Pagliacci” at Gran Teatro del Liceu of Barcelona, “La Traviata” at the Arena of Verona, and “Otello” (Iago) at The Greek National Opera of Athens.

Born in Tbilisi and trained at the State Conservatory of his home town, George Gagnidze debuted as Renato in “Un ballo in maschera” in 1996 at the Paliashvili State Opera. He entered the “Concorso Voci Verdiane” in 2005 as an award-winner of the “Leyla Gencer Voice Competition” and the “Elena Obraztsova Competition”. The jury, chaired by José Carreras and Katia Ricciarelli, awarded him first prize for his outstanding vocal interpretation. After launching his international career from Germany, he was soon engaged by many of the world's important opera houses.

Performances

Oleksiy Palchykov

Oleksiy Palchykov was born in 1986 in Kiev. In 2006 he started his studies at the vocal faculty of the National Musical Tchaikovskiy Academy. In 2004 he is the recipient of the “Art of XXI century” international competition. He made his debut in 2008 singing the roles of Trike and Lenskiy in “Eugeny Onegin” (Tchaikovsky) at the National Shevchenko Opera Theatre and Lykov in “The Tzar’s Bride” (Rimskiy-Korsakov) with the Tatar Academic State Opera and Ballet M. Dzhalil Theatre (Kazan, Russia) and the Shaliapin festival of opera singers.
In 2010 he received the Grand Prix of the XVI International Lydia Abramova vocal student’s competition “Bella voce” (Moscow, Russia), the Grand Prix for the best Tchaikovsky music performance in the National Tchaikovsky Musical Academy vocal faculty competition, the Third Prize of the “International Vocal Competition in Memory of Antonina Nezhdanova” (Odessa , Ukraine), the Special Award of the festival “Tournament Tenors” (Szczecin, Poland), the Special Prize of the Jury at the International Vocal Competition “Debut” (Wiekersheim, Germany). In 2011 he was awarded with the Grand Prix International Vocal Competition Ivana Alchevskogo “Alchevskiy Debut” (Kharkov, Ukraine). He is finalist of the International Vocal Competition in the Opera Festival in Savonlinna (Finland).

He has toured with the Kiev Musical Theatre performing the role of Alfredo in Verdi’s “La traviata” in Switzerland (Theatre du Leman in Geneva, Palazzo dei Congressi in Lugano, Theatre de Beaulieu in Lausanne, Theâtre du Passage in Neuchatel). He performed in France the roles of the Second Policeman, the Second Gentleman, the First Dandy in the “The Nose” of Shostakovich (Festival d’Aix-en-Provence 2011 and the Opera de Lyon) with Kazushi Ono as conductor and William Kentridge as director, the roles of the Third Esquire in “Parsifal” (Opéra de Lyon) with Kazushi Ono as conductor and François Girard as director. With the Symphony Orchestra of Thessaloniki (Greece) performing “Jewish Songs” by Dmitry Shostakovich, conductor Alexander Myrat in 2012.

In October 2012, he joins the Atelier Lyrique of the Opéra National de Paris. He sang the role of Gernando at La Ferme du Buisson and Théâtre Firmin Gémier / La Piscine and Ecclitico at the MC93 Bobigny.

In 2014 and 2015, he made his debut at the Opéra National de Paris in the role of the Messenger (Aida, October 2013), then sang the Male Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia) at the Théâtre de l’Athénée and Don Ottavio in (Don Giovanni) in Bobigny, Ecclitico in Haydn’s “Il mondo della luna”, Scaramuccio (Ariadne auf Naxos) at Paris Bastille, Pylade (Iphigénie en Tauride) with the Atelier Lyrique, Ferrando (Così fan tutte) with the Atelier Lyrique of the Paris Opera in Paris.

In 2014 he received the Prix Lyrique du Carpeaux and Prix Lyrique de L'AROP. In the Summer of 2015 he was among the 5 finalists of the prestigious "BBC Singer Of World" singers competition. In October 2015 he covered Roberto Alagna in the role of Nemorino at Opéra Bastille.

Since 2017 he is member of the ensemble of the Hamburg State Opera where he sings such parts as Tamino, Lensky, Ferrando, Nemorino, Steuermann, Eurimaco (Il ritorno d’Ulisse).

Alexey Bogdanchikov

Alexey Bogdanchikov is a young Russian baritone. Born in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) in 1985. In the 2011/2012 season he embarked upon his first resident contract in the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Alexey Bogdanchikov previously studied at the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Centre and the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow, where, in October 2012, he returned to complete his master’s degree in music. In September 2012 he won the 2nd prize in the prestigious European Vocal Competition “Debut”. He has also taken part in various Russian vocal competitions and won prizes in Smolensk (2006) and Rusa (2007). In 2010 he was winner of the Armel Opera Competition in Hungary, which led to his engagement in the role of Barrett in Marco Tutino’s opera “The Servant” at the Armel Opera Festival in Szeged. He sang this role again in Pilzen, Czech Republic, and, in, 2011, in Lugo, Italy. In January 2011 Alexey Bogdanchikov made his debut at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna as Wolfram in “Tannhauser”.

Alexey Bogdanchikov’s repertoire includes number of important roles in Russian, Italian and German operas like Onegin in "Eugene Onegin", Robert in "Iolanta" and Prince Eletsky in "The Queen of Spades" by Tchaikovsky, Belcore in "L’elisir d’amore" by Donizetti, Marcello in "La Boheme" and Ping in "Turandot" by Puccini, Wolfram in "Tannhauser" by Wagner and Barrett in Marco Tutino’s "The Servant". In June 2013 he represented Russia at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. Guest contracts in 2013/2014 included Marchese in "La Traviata" in Guangzhou Opera House, at The Teatro Luciano Pavarotti in Modena and at the Teatro Municipale in Piacenza Alexey made his debut as Paolo Albiani in "Simone Boccanegra" next to Leo Nucci and Carlo Colombara. Also Teatro Delle Muse, Ancona, engaged Alexey to sing the role of Belcore in "Elisir d’amore" and Teatro Dell’Opera di Roma to do Morales in "Carmen". Also Alexey sang the role of Onegin in Astrakhan opera house and in Magnitogorsk. From 2014 Alexey Bogdanchikov is a member of ensemble of Moscow Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre where he made his debut in the title role in "Eugene Onegin" by Tchaikovsky. In the season 2014/2015 he made his debutes as Conte in "Le Nozze di Figaro", as Prince Eletsky in "The Queen of Spades" and as Mercutio in "Romeo and Julliete" by Gounod.

Mariusz Koler

Performances

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

The Philharmonic State Orchestra is Hamburg’s largest and oldest orchestra, looking back on many years of musical history. When the “Philharmonic Orchestra” and the “Orchestra of the Hamburg Municipal Theatre” merged in 1934, two tradition-steeped orchestras combined. Philharmonic concerts have been performed in Hamburg since 1828, artists such as Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms being regular guests of the Philharmonic Society. The history of the opera company goes back even further: Hamburg has been home to musical theatre since 1678, even if a regular opera or theatre orchestra was only formed later. To this day, the Philharmonic State Orchestra has embodied the sound of the Hansa City, a concert and opera orchestra in one.

Starting with the 2015/2016 season, Kent Nagano has taken on the position of Hamburg’s General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra and the Hamburg State Opera. In his first season Kent Nagano initiated a new project, the Philharmonic Academy at St. Michaelis, focusing on experimentation and chamber music. In 2016 Nagano and the Philharmonic undertook a successful three-week concert tour in South America. Since 2017 Kent Nagano and the Philharmonic State Orchestra have continued the traditional Philharmonic Concerts at the new Elbphilharmonie, for which they commissioned Jörg Widmann to compose the oratorio ARCHE, which was given its world premiere during the hall’s opening festivities.

The Philharmonic State Orchestra offers approximately 35 concerts per season and performs more than 240 performances per year at the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Ballet – John Neumeier, making it Hamburg’s busiest orchestra. The stylistic bandwidth covered by the 134 musicians, ranging from historically informed performance practice to contemporary works and including concert, opera and ballet repertoire, is unique throughout Germany. Chamber Music has a long tradition at the Philharmonic State Orchestra: what began in 1929 with a concert series for chamber orchestra has been continued since 1968 by a series of chamber music only, which celebrates its 50-year anniversary in 2017/18.

In 2008 Simone Young and the Philharmonic State Orchestra won the Brahms Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Society. In 2012 Simone Young received a Helpmann Award for performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and Wagner’s Rheingold with the Philharmonic in Brisbane, Australia. The orchestra has recorded the complete Ring by Wagner as well as the complete symphonies of Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner – the latter in the rarely-performed original versions – as well as works by Mahler, Hindemith and Berg, and has released DVDs of opera and ballet productions by Hosokawa, Offenbach, Reimann, Auerbach, J.S. Bach, Puccini, Poulenc and Weber.

The members of the Philharmonic State Orchestra feel equally beholden to the Hansa City’s musical tradition and responsible for the city’s artistic future. Since 1978 the musicians have been participating in education programmes in Hamburg’s schools. To this day, the TV format Musikkontakte initiated by Gerd Albrecht during his tenure as General Music Director is unforgotten. Today, the orchestra maintains a broad education programme, including school and kindergarten visits, patronage for music projects, introductory events for children and family concerts. The orchestra’s own academy prepares young musicians for their professional careers. The Philharmonic’s musicians thereby make an equally enjoyable and valuable contribution to tomorrow’s music education in the music metropolis of Hamburg.

Chor der Hamburgischen Staatsoper

The chorus members appear on stage at the Hamburg State Opera in a different role almost every night. From one day to the next, they might be sailors, gypsies, pilgrims or conspirators, then courtiers, hunters, the deranged or the imprisoned. In the role of crusaders in I Lombardi alla prima Crociata they travel to Jerusalem, other nights they are invited to Madama Butterfly's marriage or acclaim Prince Igor. The ladies and gentlemen of the opera chorus demonstrate their artistic prowess, their flexibility, and their love of the stage in every performance.

With a membership around 70, the chorus of the Hamburg State Opera has been one of the world’s best opera choruses for many years. The varied repertoire – almost always in the original language – is multifaceted and includes baroque operas and dramatic operas, major works by Verdi and Wagner as well as contemporary pieces. At the start of the 2013/14 season, Eberhard Friedrich took over the post of Chorus Master.